Federal pilot project: GPS tracking of parolees

I do not understand why we need a pilot project to test these federal GPS ankle bracelets. With all of the other jurisdictions in Canada and overseas that have already implemented them there would be enough information to make a responsible policy decision. Maybe not. There is just something about the duplication of bureaucracy that gets me.

Assuming this technology actually provides useful information, I wonder: What is the point of tracking them so closely? When a parolee violates terms of probation, my understanding is that the final decision to act rests with Correctional Service of Canada anyway. So, unless there is any discussion about how CSC operates and makes decisions pertaining to the paroling of convicts, the technology may not make a difference — apart from a few PR points:

Mr. Day spoke on a podium with a bilingual “Preventing Crime” slogan, and his staff arranged for four children from the community to play soccer in the park behind him, in sight of television cameras.

This is being touted as a glorious method “to rein in sexual predators and violent cons” but I question why such efforts must be made to integrate them back into communities. If they are going to be released in my vicinity, I would rather their names and photographs be advertized instead of relying on the reports of a bureaucrat hired to monitor useless information emitted from a gadget.

The cynic in me says that the main beneficiaries of this GPS scheme are the manufacturers of these new toys.